It is also exceedingly difficult to learn as the payoffs for a bet on any single number change, depending upon how the bet is made. But if you want to have fun at a craps table, you don't have to understand all the percentages, that is the job of your dealer, box-man, and floorman. To be honest, in my 15 years experience working in legal casinos, some of the biggest wins have been made by first time players who hadn't the faintest idea what they were doing, they merely followed the lead of their friendly dealer.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you will always win at the craps table, or any other casino game. Those lavish hotels were not built by winners, they were built by tens of thousands of people losing various amounts, from a few dollars to several million. Gambling is a business, and all the percentages will offer a slight percentage to the house. The house may book a losing night, or even a losing week, but at the end of the year they will always post a profit. Don't think that I recommend gambling as a way to get rich. Instead, you should think of an evening at a casino as any other form of entertainment, like going to the theater or taking the wife out to dinner. You plan on spending a certain amount of money and then you will go home. If Lady Luck should smile on you and you go home with more than you started with, consider yourself lucky.

After a few years as a dealer, I worked up to box-man. He's the fellow who sits in the center of the table and stuffs all the money down the box. He also watches the game very closely, to protect players from mistakes from dealers and to settle any disputes between players and dealers. He also protects the house by watching for cheaters, who may be professional cheats, or they may be a dishonest dealer working with a confederate. Whenever there is a lot of money changing hands quickly, someone will decide that it would be better if a lot of that money ends up in their own pocket.

After eight years of marriage to my wonderful stripper, we began drifting in separate directions. We had a friendly divorce, if there is such a thing, and went our separate ways. I still think of her on occasion, and got a letter from her a while back. She now has a son that she named Bill.

I continued casino work as a floorman, pit-boss, shift-boss, and casino manager. By then, of course, I had learned to deal all the casino games but my job became more managerial, scheduling dealers to make sure all the tables were covered for each shift, and spending more time developing good customer relations with the players. In 1990 I retired and moved to San Felipe in Baja California, 120 miles south of the border with Mexico.

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